January 27th, 2026 - BoE - Regular Meeting - Open Session 7:00 p.m. - Closed Session 6 p.m.

001Heat. Heat. N. I'm crazy. You will be I'm happy. me. Heat. I'll be happy. You yourself. Ooh. Ah. Oh, hey. Woah woah. Oh, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat up here. Hey, hey, hey. again. Hey again. I love you. Happy again. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. behind me. Hey Heat. Heat. You Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. I'll be happy. You prove yourself. Ooh. Oh, ooh. Woah woah. Oo. Ooh. Hey. Hey. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Uh-huh. again. Hey Hey, hey, hey. Yeah, baby. Hey again. Again. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. always try to start this meeting on time. We had a very uh important hearing that we had to uh conclude and um so that's why we're late tonight, but we're going to be starting in just a

002couple of minutes. Okay, we have a quorum here. We're ready get started 7:12. The board met in close board met in close session this evening at 6 pm to discuss matters that fall under the following categories that are exceptions to the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Personnel matters exception C1, real estate exception C6, negotiations exception C2, legal matters exception C11, close session exception C21, and personal matters exception C1. At this point, I would like to ask for a motion to go into open session. Motion by Mr. Riddle, second by Miss Hannah. Can we have a roll call vote, please? >> Miss Fabian, >> Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> yes. >> Mr. McBride, Mr. Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. We are now in open

003session. >> Okay. Um, next item is the pledge of allegiance. Mr. Castiano, would you please leading us in the pledge of allegiance? >> I had to get water. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you very much. Please be seated. >> For sure. Okay. >> Next item is the president's report. I just have three items. I just want to uh remind the board members that on February 18th, we are having our meeting with our uh IASB representative Dr. Perry Hill on the topic of conflict resolution. that would be here 6:00 p.m. And then in April, April 15th, um, please put on your calendar that the Lake Division meeting of the Illinois Association

004of School Boards will be taking place from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Double Tree Hilton in Libertyville Mundine. And if you haven't already responded to administration, I think Mr. Mr. Aljac has put out a um uh an email to all the board members asking them to uh let them know whether we you wanted to be registered. It was either him or was it Jasmine? >> Yes, >> one one of you did. I think it was Jasmine >> for the division, >> right? So let let um let Jasmine know so that we can uh make sure that you're registered for the meeting. And then the third item, I received a letter from uh Coach Ashla. I'm going to read the letter to you. Uh friends, we hope you are well this winter as we officially

005move into the new semester full speed. We cordially invite you to our annual Mik Mikva Challenge issues to action showcase on Friday, April 24th, 2026 from 9:30 until 1:30 p.m. at Walkegan High School's Washington campus in Walkegan, Illinois. The event features a culmination of CIV civics's action projects our junior government civic students engage in over the course of the second semester in an academic fair style event. The projects based on student selected issues of concern in the school, the community, and beyond have been outstanding in the past, and we expect a continuation of that tradition in next spring. Several high schools from Lake County area will be participating, sending representatives from their civics class to join the event. We are hoping to expand the field of participating schools for the 2025 26 school year. We

006hope you will be able to join us for this year's showcase during this era when civic engagement may be among the most important endeavors we could possibly spend our time and our energy toward. An invitation the event has been included for your planning purposes and uh if you need information on this uh just see me uh April 24th, 2026 from 9:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the Washington campus. Okay. Uh, next item, student board member report. Are we doing individual reports or is it one >> together? >> Tag team report. >> Okay. Uh, student board member report. >> You're on. >> Did you share? >> Are your mics working? >> No. Sorry. >> Did you share? Can we zip it over to them super fast? >> Are there slides? Sure, >> Tim. >> Okay. Who's controlling

007the slides? >> Yeah. >> You don't have it. >> But can we send it super fast? >> It's totally fine. Workshopping here. >> Okay. Sorry, everyone. Uh I can just get started for now, but uh we just really had our presentation and on the agenda we're going to talk about an introduction to our two ser um two surveys me and Frankie had made and then introduction to school expansion that Frankie want to cover more on. And the two surveys that we created were studentto student learning. Basically a program for schools I mean for students to sorry for students to have a tutoring program in school rather than after school cuz not a lot of students have free time after school. So I was working with Miss Ger and we were we got that on the

008tables to get students opinions to see who wants to volunteer and to help or like either receive help. And all the students who volunteer the they're able to all the students who are in NHS, they're able to have uh get NHS hours for every hour that they volunteer. And then the student serve, the student follow-up lunch survey, I believe it was, uh, it was just aimed to get more direct response from students to actually see like what can we do to like better make the lunches better for them cuz like a lot of students now they don't have secure food at home. So we want to make them as as nutritious as they can and yes and and filling and >> yep sorry. Hello. >> Are we still working on the presentation? >> Yeah, I

009don't know. >> Did you just want to go over yours? >> I'll just I'll quickly go over mine. It's fine. So, uh a conversation was brought up with one of my teachers and I thought of having the idea of expanding our school or completely renovated. Um, I thought of this because uh it'd be better for our students have a new learning um uh environment. I've visited uh uh high schools around uh Illinois and I've seen that their schools are very modern and given to our uh high school. it it has a history and it's good, but I feel like it'd be best and if if it's if it were feasible to completely renovate our school or give it a new building, a new style so our our students can be more connected or modernized to

010to like the day and day and I saw this being more beneficial because our students would be more um attached to this new building. There we go. >> Thank you. >> And our and our goal would be uh to improve our school environment to better enhance learning for our students. Thank you. >> Is that the end of it? >> Yes. >> Just in time. >> Um >> Miss Lindsay, you wanted to >> Yeah. Um I I love the work that you two are doing. Um, I think it's really thoughtful and mindful of what our students are needing and wanting um, in the district. I would like for the studentto student to t tutoring. I love that our NHS students can get those hours in. I wonder if there can be a partnership with ASOP so

011that before they start tutoring other students, they get some best practice in because I I say that coming from um an intensive background with uh tutoring and support services. So, you just want to make sure they're going in with some tools in their toolkit to to be able to best support the student in front of them. because I've also received really bad tutoring where I actually got a lower grade on a paper because the person didn't didn't have all of the skill sets needed. So, that might be a good thing as you go into that work with ASOP to see if like there's, you know, a quick 15minute thing to go over with students before they start tutoring others. Um, I also love that we're talking about food because yes, we want it to be

012nutritious and feeling or filling. I also made the comment that we want it to be delicious so it ends up in their bellies and not in the trash can. Um, and I think we would all love for a new building for our students and I think it's something that we need to continue chipping away at. I think resources are going to be the biggest hurdle. So, we need to start thinking creatively on how we can attain those funds and get you guys the facilities that you deserve. Just because you don't live in a certain zip code doesn't mean you don't deserve the very best. So, I love that that's still in the very forefront. Those are my comments. >> Miss Fabian, >> and I just want to compliment you both on pivoting because we all

013know technology doesn't always work and that's a huge skill set to know your presentation and be able to do it without your notes. So, I commend you both on that. >> Anybody else? And I just want to say I'm very proud of these two young people who are sitting here with us. For those of you who don't know, these are two student board members. They are in high school. They're non- voting members of the board. They were selected by their classmates and then the final decision was made by the board of education to represent the students to actually sit here uh at our meetings and to give us input from the student body so that we have an idea of what the students are thinking, how they feel about certain issues and so forth. And

014also to they will be taking the information of what goes on in the board meetings back to the students that the students have that pipeline. um through these student board members to to know what's going on in the district. So, I just want to say I am really proud of both of you. You've done an excellent job. I think you deserve a big applause. And by the way, that was a great slide. >> And our superintendent would like to say something. >> Um >> not yet. You Okay. A little later. All right. Next item. Special recognition and presentation. IPA award presentation. >> Treble. >> Hello everybody. >> Hello. >> Good evening. >> Hi. My name is Tom Cardone. I'm the principal at Stanton School in Fox Lake and I'm very proud to be a member

015of the Lake Region IPA board me board along with Erica Berger in the back of the room. We are very excited to recognize two of your outstanding administrators this evening for uh region awards through the lake um Lake IPA. Uh the first person we want to recognize and I believe this person was recognized at his school this morning earlier as well by a little surprise is uh Mr. Nelson Campos. The the IPA Lake region has selected Nelson as their region principal of the year, middle school principal of the year. And there are really five key questions that candidates need to answer to display their commitment to leadership in this role. And is how have you evaluated and shaped your school's culture to foster emotional and physical well-being and safety? What have you done to promote

016equity and for for students and staff in your school? How do you involve students and staff in organizational decision-making and provide opportunities to empower them to be leaders? How are you leading learning and in leading learning and instruction in your school to ensure that students will succeed in a global society? And reflecting on data, how is your leadership impacted student achievement? After this application process was and was presented, um Mr. Campos needed to receive approval from the district superintendent and then also submit three letters of reference to highlight their connection to highquality education. Nelson was quickly approved and highlighted how his commitment to the community has greatly impacted student performance, climate and culture and collaborative practice. And obviously his skills and talents extend far beyond WKEAN as he was recognized this morning by the state

017of Illinois um through the state IPA board as the middle school principal of the year. So congratulations, Mr. come a long way, baby. >> Congratulations. >> Very proud of you. >> You know, before you go any further, uh I see a lot of people standing back there. If some of you would like to sit down, we still have a lot of uh vacant seats here. Mr. Aljacus, are we doing streaming out in the welcome to stand and too many of you go in the lobby standing anyway, but that is an option for you. >> Okay. I'm sorry. Uh well, sorry that you have to hear my voice more, but it's for a good reason. Um we also want to recognize Miss Shantaa Meyers this evening. We are very proud to recognize Miss Meyers with the

01825 202526 Reaching Out and Building Bridges Award. This award is a testament to the strength of your service and commitment to the IPA. The Reaching Out and Building Bridges Award recognizes administrators like Shantaa for fostering strong connections between schools, families, and the community. highlighting collaborative leadership in Lake County. This award honors those who connect disperate groups, disparate groups, excuse me, for the benefit of students, reflecting broader IPA initiatives that also include regional and statewide recognitions for educational leadership in Illinois. Shi went through the same process as Nelson did, so I won't read that paragraph a second time, but Shi, on behalf of the Illinois Principal Association, we thank you for your dedication and your superior leadership and commitment to the IPA. Congratulations. Congratulations. Oh, wait a minute. I just want to recognize Mr. Compost and

019Miss Meyers for all their hard work and dedication, commitments, and collaboration, consistency. I could go on and on about both of you guys forever. I'd be remiss if I also did not call something else out out today. Mr. Compost was also acknowledged as the middle school principal of the year for Illinois. Can we give him a round of applause? speech speech. >> Several board members and myself attended um a celebration for him at Miguel Wararez today where all the students were part of it and I just want to congratulate you. I want to thank your family for allowing us to be in his presence and giving us time that I know he steals from you all to give to the children of Walk Keaggan. And I'd like to tell a little story about Mr. Compost

020when I met him. When I first met Nelson, it was I believe over nine maybe ten years ago and he was a parent in our district and I believe I was attending a little fort picnic >> at here in Walke at a park and he was there as a parent and we just sparked up a conversation and I he's like I'm an educator and I said really I said oh well where do you work and he's like well I work at a charter school in Chicago but I and I said and you live in Walk Keaggan? And he said, "Yes, I do." I said, "Well, we can't have that. We need you here in Walkaggan." And I worked aggressively um to get him to come back to Walk Keaggan to serve the students. And I

021know I did not make the wrong decision that day. And I'm so glad that you blessed us with your presence and your consistency and your heart for children here. And that is not lost on me, Mr. Compost. I know as leaders it gets tough and it's lonely. I know sometimes it feels like there's burials, trial, trials and tribulations, but where you are is where you're supposed to be. And this is a testament that it was for you and this is where you're supposed to be. Maybe not forever cuz I know you have aspirations to be a superintendent one day. Um, but for right now and I just want to tell you I really appreciate, I admire you and you keep doing the great work you're doing here in Walkagan. It's proof that you're on the

022right track. Thank you for all you do. >> Did any of the board members have any Fabian? >> So, same. I met Mr. Compos as a parent. our kids were both attending Little Fort at the time and he was very active with the GPTO. Um, and same thing then I found out he was also an educator and I asked the same question like what are you doing? So again I'm very happy that you decided to come back to Walk Keegan but I can say um you juggled it all. You were still a very active parent and still pursuing your career and it's been a pleasure. I think we've been watching each other's career journeys as we move along and it's it's been a pleasure to see how successful you've been especially because I know all

023the hard work that you've done at Huarez alongside with Miss Myers cuz both of you were tag teaming it and that's how I met Miss um Mrs. Myers and I will say that both of you have always been very gracious whenever I wanted to do anything family um engagement related and they're always there open door ready to to really listen to the community and listen to their families and their students and put their students needs first. So I want to thank both of you for that. >> Miss uh Lindsay, >> I'm going sneak in Miss Hannah and you can have a better word than me. Um, I also want to acknowledge that at this morning's um, celebration, I'm going to call it at Wares, uh, Mr. Compost was also very intent on saying it's not

024just me getting this award. He was very appreciative of staff, of the students, of the families, recognizing it's a team effort to make a school run. It's not just your teachers in the classroom. It's your custodial, it's your secretaries, it's your peer professionals, it's security, everybody. So, I just really admire that it's that you recognize that it's everybody. Yes, you put a lot of work in it. Yes, you had a great support system so that you can get the work done. Um, and we really appreciate that. But I also love the the teamwork that you acknowledge, which is so important, Miss Meyers, representing 04 with pride. Nicely done. And I will say anytime I'm over at Washington and I see you, you're always excited. you're always representing those kids and just loving on them and

025praising them and making sure that they get what they need. And in all honesty, that's the best anyone in this district could do. If you if the test scores are so so, but those kids leave that school and enter that school feeling like they're loved and appreciated, that means the most to me. So, I just love that you bring that passion every day. I'm not going to cry. >> Thank you, Miss Hannah. >> Mr. Camples, when did you leave? Absolutely. That That's what I thought. Um but um we've been hanging in there a long time. Yes. And you've always been the same person that I met years ago. And uh just want to say look it it's an honor that you um receive the honor that you deserve um for the Walkgan School District. And

026um I just want to say you deserve it. And um just keep doing what you're doing cuz um I don't know how long we I don't know how long, you know, things, you know, will keep going. Okay. But um the kids over there, they they have a good leader and um your staff and stuff. There's you're you're a good leader for them. So, I thank you for uh doing Miss Meyers. You you you you're awesome. The kids love you and you know, just keep doing what you do. Keep uh growing into um into yourself and what you do and all will be well. So look, I'm just proud of both of be proud to be a part of. >> We are very fortunate to have both of you with us. >> We would like to

027get a group photo if we can. >> So wipe your tears. >> Maybe come up to the front here and all the board >> start unblushing kind of stand together here. But >> and your family, of course. >> Where's the baby? Not >> they're not babies anymore. No, they're not baby anymore. >> Everybody come together. >> Yeah, let's all get it. >> Can we >> maybe move over to your left a little bit? >> They're taller than you. >> All right, why don't we all go out? >> Yeah, I think just not outside, >> right? treasure. Yeah, y'all on the board. Unless you don't want your >> Why don't I I'm gonna get I'm gonna get back. I'm gonna get back. We need our Got it. Have a good night. Thanks everybody. >> Well done.

028Yeah. >> Okay. Next item on the agenda. 7B. A spotlight on 60. >> Let's go. >> Dad's taking you guys to dinner. >> I need it. Okay. Whittier was authorized as an international balorate school in the year of 2024. And part of being an international balorate school is to teach students the learner profile. And the learner profile is a way in which you ensure students are globally and internationally minded because the skills within the learner profile are transferable um to anywhere in the world. >> I earned this thinker card by solving like hard problems that I couldn't think but I solved it in my brain. I was learning about multiplication strategies that my teacher told me the strategies about the test. >> I reach open-minded for listening to some of my friends ideas during uh

029learning about expedition. >> IB schools highlight these learner profile attributes. So the attributes are these 10 characteristics of internationally minded people. And so IB school hopes to foster global citizens. And so um we really wanted to promote these attributes among our students and our staff. We had a common language through PBIS that uh we used to say be respectful, be responsible, be safe, be kind. And we saw that the kids really grasped that. But in addition to our learner profile cards, it was getting a little confusing. And the last thing we want to do is confuse students. So the PBIS team during our authorization process identified a need to enhance and ensure students were not only just aware of the learner profile but were actually using the language in a school. It was part of

030our culture that the learner profile was being used. And so we intertwined the PBIS PA system with the learner profile. And so this is what we came up with as a team. The idea was basically just something we could really utilize that would show each of our IV profile attributes and be something that the kids would find engaging. And the goal was something along the lines of the get into the Pokémon collector cards and all of those things. So if we could create something that was visually interesting to them, kind of similar to the Pokémon Go cards where they could collect and be like, I have this one and you got this one and oh, let me see if I can get all of them. That was really the goal with it. We rewrote our

031school vision. Our vision starts with we are a wittier wolfpack which aligns with our PBIS framework. It aligns with our IB framework as well. These learner profile cards are an example of the importance of connections between students and teachers and staff. And as a school, we value that relationship and connections with kids deeply. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that presentation. Next item on the agenda, item eight, approval of minutes. We have three different sets of minutes that we have to approve. And I'm not sure who was or who wasn't it. Uh if anybody missed any meetings, we're going to take them all individually. First one is the approval of minutes for the micro meeting open session December 9th, 2025. Do we have a motion to approve? >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Mr.

032Riddle. >> Second by Miss Hannah. We have any comments, corrections, changes to the minutes? >> Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Hannah, >> sorry. >> Miss Lensing? >> Yes. >> Miss Ramirez? >> Yes. >> Mr. Riddle? Yes. >> President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion carries. Minutes are approved. Next one, the item B, approval of minutes for the regular open session of December 16th, 2025. >> We have a motion to approve. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle. >> Second by Miss Han. Any comments, corrections, changes, minutes. >> Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Hannah. Miss Lensing, >> yes. >> Mr. Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. Minutes are approved. Item 8 C, approval of minutes

033for the micro meeting open session of January 13, 2026. >> Motion to app. >> Motion approved by Mr. Riddle. Second by Miss Hannah. Any comments, corrections, changes to these minutes. >> Roll call vote. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Hannah. >> Miss Lensing? >> Yes. >> Miss Ramirez? Yes. >> Mr. Riddle? >> Yes. >> President Rodriguez? >> Yes. Motion carries. Minutes are approved. Item nine, opportunity for public comment. >> Thanks. Okay, we have a few names on the list. As I call your name, please uh come up to the uh podium. Uh state your name and um you will be given three minutes. Um Naha Brisco >> Oh, why? Oh, I know. >> He gave you the Spanish annunciation. >> I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be funny. >> Love your Spanish. Do you

034want me to say it again for your benefit? >> Why Genia? >> There you go. >> Is that how you pronounce it? >> Close. Why Gina Brisco? >> I just couldn't read it. >> I know it's my handwriting. Um, let me just get started because I only have three minutes. First thing I want to say, uh, before I get into what I really came up here for. You students, each year, you guys are getting better and better and better. I I just want to acknowledge that. I mean, the first student was really good, but believe it or not, you guys are getting better and better and better. The ideas that you guys bring forth, if the board does something with your ideas, there's no way that the school cannot get better. So, I want to

035thank you for that. Um, other thing I saw in the agenda that you guys are going to talk about Earth Angels today. I looked at the last uh board meeting. It kind of got a little muffled for me. It's like they kind of had like a one-year program, three-year program. I think the school the board might be voting on a one-year program. It appears that um it should be a three-year program. They're only asking I think less than $90,000. If you look at the data, and I'm very involved with the data with what's happening here. The data in the middle school, you can see for K through five, it looks good. The minute it hits the middle school, you can see where the grades start to decline. This program is for the middle school. Now,

036it's not getting started until February. So, we've lost a semester, whatever it is here, the beginning of the school year. So, we've lost time that our middle school could have been involved in this. And I kind of rewinded and looked at it again. Looks like it's an awesome program. But I think that what is happening now, the benefit that that program could have given, if it would have would if it would have been brought forth earlier, the kids could have done a lot. Now, I think maybe it's scaled down because it's only going to be uh one one year. That's kind of what I got out of the presentation. So hopefully the board, I don't know what you guys have voted on tonight. If it's a one-year, definitely needs to be funded for three years.

037I don't know why it's not funded for three years. We need to do what we can do to support our babies. And we know that the challenge is in the middle school quickly. I asked before what's happening with BAM and WOW. I really would like to see and if I'm not here, I still go ahead and I watch all of the schoolboard meetings. We need to have a report on what's happening with BAM and WOW. We pay the millions of dollars. We need to know what's h happening with BAM and wow at least every six months or whatever you guys decide but it's been a long time and I watch all the schoolboard meetings so I know I haven't seen it. I went to Zion. They have a program there called New Directions and they

038let me sit through the program there. It's an awesome awesome program and it's during school time. So please, please, please give us an update on what's happening with BAM. And while the last thing I want to say is that um usually I would be here a little bit more often like I used to be before. I'm still confused with these schoolboard meetings. I don't know if it's a micro. I don't know if it's a macro. I don't know if it's a full I don't know if it's a operation. I don't know what the hell is going on. If you guys could help us understand what's happening with the scheduling, I will be here more. More parents will be here more. There used to be a lot more parents. Not a lot, but at least more

039than what we have now. We can't get it straight. So from the community hopefully that should have just been a pilot program. My opinion is not working. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Brisco. >> Tom, and I can't figure out your last name. IPA. >> Is it Kandemmore? Tom Candore? He may have left already. He may may have been >> Cander. IPA alpa also. Okay, they were here for the presentation. Okay, >> thank you. Uh, Linda and good evening board members, superintendent, community. U, my name is Linda Wunda. I proudly stand here on behalf of the WKEAN professional support staff. We are your secretaries, clerks, assistants, specialists, and technicians that serve District 60 and our families in the community every day. We keep our communities and school running and often go far beyond our job

040descriptions to make sure students, families, teachers, and administrators are fully supported. Tonight, I would call your attention to WPS's appreciation of the board's bargaining team for completing a most productive bargaining session last week. We appreciate their good faith effort. Every session going forward should be that way. We assure you we have been and remain ready to make that happen as we continue to negotiate for a fair contract that honors the work we do for the students and staff we serve. Because it's January and our members have been working without a contract for over 6 months. Time is of the essence. So, I come here tonight to encourage you to continue to support your bargaining team at our collective bargaining table and to ensure our working relationship is one grounded in respect. To us, that means

041bargaining with urgency. It means honoring the work that we do every day for our students and families. It means recognizing that we, the support staff, are essential, the heart of everything that happens at District 60. We look forward to getting this contract settled and to more sessions like the one we had last week. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. >> I know this name Germaine Castanos. >> Yeah. If you want to take a couple of seconds just for background noise. >> Yeah. Uh, good evening. Uh, sorry. My name is Germaine Castanos. Good evening. Uh, president, school board member, superintendent. Uh, my name is Germaine Castanos. I'm with the Boys and Girls Club. Uh, we serve over 400 WKEAN families. Um, I understand that our bid for the Greenwood property is not the

042highest offer. Uh, I want to be very clear and respectful of the board's responsibility to steward public assets. Uh, I'm here tonight to ask you to consider not just the sale price, but the lasting value the the buyer brings to the district and to the Walkegan students. If selected, this building would become a before school and after school care hub, serving children in this in in our neighborhood uh students who already attend Walkegan schools. It would provide safe supervision, academic support, enrichment, and reliable care for working families. In short, it would become an extension of the school day aligned with your mission to support students uh student success beyond the classroom. This use directly supports district priorities, improved attendance and engagement, academic support outside of school hours, uh safe structured environment during critical times of

043day, stronger family stability which leads to to stronger students. Unlike a commercial buyer, our organization is not extracting value from the community. We are reinvesting it. This property would remain an educational asset serving generations of Walkegan students, not just for the term of a lease or a business cycle, but for the long term. While another bidder may offer a higher dollar amount today, our bid offers something different. a community return on investment that supports your students, our students, your families, our families, and your strategic goals. By accepting our bid, the district is is not just selling a building. You're adding a partner, expanding student supports, and strengthening the ecosystem around our schools. On behalf of the families we serve and the children who would benefit from this program, I respectfully ask you to accept our

044bid and allow this building to continue serving Walkegan students. Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your commitment to this community. >> Thank you, Mr. Castianos >> and Frankie. And uh and I don't I don't know your name. The other student, sorry, the other student. Uh I applaud you for memorizing your speeches. Uh I did not. But uh but thank you so much for hearing me out. Um and and thank you. Yep. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Item 10 is a consent agenda for academics. Uh the consent agenda is a list of items that um have been presented to the board before in other meetings either uh uh committee meetings or other uh board meetings and they are considered to be non uh controversial. These are items that have already been presented

045to the board. The board has had a chance to hear about them and um and request any additional information that they want. So, in order to save time and not go through each of them individually, um we set up a consent agenda and we vote on them all at once. Now, are we um holding? >> Yes. Um and I just want to explain tonight I'm asking the board to hold on item B and D and I will give the rationale. Um item B is Earth Angels program. I'm asking to hold that today. there was some concern um that was brought from a community member um whether this item needs to go out for bid or how does that work? So the the amount here is under the threshold that the board needs to approve. So

046just to ensure that we are remaining um fiscally responsible, I need to look at this and I just need a a little more time. I also want to acknowledge that at the last meeting I was out of the state for a conference. So that kind of pushed me behind. I may need a day or two. I did talk to Miss Folton. It's not that we're not bringing it forward. I just need to check a few more things out for the board. So I'm asking that we hold on this for another day or two. The second one is item D and that is Give me one moment please. Item D is the Cook School Broadway teachers workshop request. We have every intent of sending you guys on this workshop. However, um finance had a couple of

047questions that we need to clear up to ensure that the paperwork is correct. If you look at the date for the workshop, we still have time. So, we will also be bringing this item back. So I want to give the reason and rationale why I'm asking to hold these two items this evening. >> Okay. So um I am looking for a motion to approve the consent agenda items A through E with the exception of item B and item D which are being pulled tonight. I make a motion that we approve the consent agenda as presented with the exception of B and D. >> Thank you, Miss Hannah. Do we have a second? >> Second by Mr. Riddle. Any discussion on this motion, Miss Fabian? >> Um, I just want to say thank you to Mr.

048Hamilton. uh not to pick on him, but thank you for cleaning up the PD because as you know, it's not it was never anything about you. It's I'm a stickler for Ken. We read these things and have them make sense for us. So, thank you for that. Um, and thank you to the uh, cook staff as well for putting in their PD early because it does give us time when there are questions to go back and fix what needs to be fixed when we're not, you know, seeing these uh, PDs come in a week or two before you're trying to leave. So, thank you um, to both of you. >> Any other comments, questions, discussion? Okay, roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> yes. >>

049Miss Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. >> Consent agenda is approved. Uh, item 11 is the consent agenda for operations. Uh, there are three items on this. >> Yeah. Do we have to do B and D? >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Okay. >> Yeah, my uh my mistake here. Um, I'm going to read each of the items so that everybody knows what we just approved. Uh, consent agenda item 10. A, renewal of frontline professional growth subscription. C, Cambridge Educational Services for ACT Development and Support, grades 9 through 12. Uh, E, renewal of Power School. F, National Summit on Improvement and Education Conference. G, Walkgan High School 2027 Spain Trip. And H, Cogent, um, to Comcast Internet Connectivity Transition. Okay. And now the consent agenda for operations.

050Are we um voting on the whole agenda? Nothing's being pulled. >> I have a point of order. Just um want to confirm um I believe the motion was to approve A through E with the exception of B and D which would have left out F, G, and >> I said A A to H. It was E that was stated. >> The consent agenda except >> Yeah, I said the consent agenda items A through H >> B and D >> with the exception of B and D. >> Unfortunately, when you did read it, you said A through >> correct. >> Oh, >> so we need to go back on F. >> If we could just have another motion to accept the consent agenda F through that will solve the issue. Okay, >> just make that make

051the motion. Miss >> Okay. I make the motion to accept the consent agenda A through H except B and D. >> I'm going to pause. Did we get a final vote on A through E? So, could we have a motion to accept the consent agenda F, G, and H? So moved and second. >> Second. >> That covers us. All right. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we're covered. >> Yes. Do we need >> We need to vote for it. >> Okay. Do we have any comments? Any discussion on that motion? >> Okay. Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian. So, this is for F through H. Yes. >> F. Miss Hannah. >> Miss Hannah. >> Yes. >> Miss Lensing. >> Yes. >> Miss Ramirez. >> Yes. Mr. Riddle. Yes. >> President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion carries.

052So the whole consent agenda was approved minus items >> B and D. Correct. >> Okay. Consent agenda for operations. We are voting on the whole agenda. It's a short agenda. The three items. 11. A is approval of facility rental waiver request for focus. B is approval of facility rental waiver request for Cosmo soccer and C is the approval of West Insurance renewal property casualty insurance consultant 2026. >> I move to approve 11 A, B and C as read. >> Second >> motion by Mr. R, second by Miss Fabian. Roll call vote, please. >> Can I Fabian? >> I just wanted to add thank you again to um operations department for fixing focus's uh rental waiver agreement. They do not charge fees to our students to have the summer school program. So I just wanted to

053be very clear about that. Yes. >> Miss Hannah. >> Yes. >> Miss Lensing. Yes. >> Miss Ramirez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Riddle. >> Yes. >> President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion carries. Consent agenda for operations is approved. >> 12. Purchases and contracts. I see none. >> 13. Personnel item. It is the recommendation that the board of education accept the administration's recommendation to approve the appointments retirement and accept the resignations and terminations as found on schedules F10002, L949, T317, and G660. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle. >> Second by Miss Fabian. >> Any discussion on that motion? Roll call vote. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Mirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. Item

05414, grants and donations. I see none. Nothing under other. Item 16, financial reports. Superintendent, >> it is the recommendation of the administration that the board of education ratify the 2nd January 2026 of board bills, manual check request payments, and no national bank insurance payments for the period of January 7, 2026 through January 20, 2026. The accounts payable board payments for the period of January 7, 2026 through January 2026 total 2,29,2125. The manual check request payments for the period of January 7, 2026 through January 2026 totals 1,77,255.88. Though national bank insurance payments for the period of January 7th, 2026 through January 20, 2026 total zero dollars. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion approved by Mr. Riddle. >> Second by Miss Favian. Any discussion on that motion? >> Roll call vote please. >> Miss Fabian. >> Yes.

055Miss Hannah. >> Hold on. >> Yes. >> Miss Lensing. >> Oh, pass. >> Miss Lensing. >> Pass. >> Mr. Ramirez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Riddle. Yes. >> President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion carries. >> Item 17, reports and presentations. Do we have any committee reports? >> Um, PTAC met on January 15th, uh, which is the parent teacher advisory committee. We're still reviewing some policies, but it's been going very very smoothly. Um, as far as our agendas, we're getting through it, reading through it. Um, so I'm I'm seeing a lot of movement there, which is great. However, I would also like to see a lot more parents log in. Um, if you would like the link, if you can't make it in person, please reach out to uh outreach or Oscar Dupi to get that link so

056that you can participate in um that committee meeting. Oh, and we also have been meeting for the AI um policy. AI is moving faster than we are. um we want to be really intentional and thoughtful to make sure we capture everything that we need to but again there's been um a lot of progress there so thank you to uh Dr. Quas for leading that committee. >> Any other committee? But Miss Ramirez >> um met um with our face committee uh last week. Really excited um to be hearing some of the stuff that is coming out. Even though it's just a team of one, she is working very hard and diligent to make sure that um things are still going on. So, the Black History Month um gala will be on February 7th and we've already

057began discussing um Hispanic Heritage Month celebration as well. So if there are people who are willing to help um or want to be part of the committee um please feel free to reach out to either the face department um or um superintendent I'm sure can give also information for parents who want to join um but they do need a lot of support that department >> Thank you Mr. is Miss Tenner, >> the wellness committee uh met um and we are in the process of um uh reading a book, the an anguish anxious generation and um we're going to be uh discussing that and we are talking the um the Illinois youth survey uh for middle school and high school will be um will be starting in April I think um and uh hopefully we can

058get 100% of our students to uh to participate in that. And we're um we're looking into some of the um issues with students um vaping and the accessibility that they have not in the schools but within the neighborhood. I see the alderman out there. So within the neighborhood, there's places that are um yeah that are um selling um these things to our students underage. And so we are um we're going to be devising u some kind of correspondence that will be um we'll bring it to of course and the board for approval, but we want to make contact with uh with court um and um we're looking to do uh with the survey to try to get 100%. We're also talking about uh some type of incentive for the students uh you know to participate

059uh in uh service. We're also continuing um about the vaping posters that were um that that we're advised to put up in the school building. Um, other than that, I'll keep you posted. >> Thank you, Miss Hannah. Any other committee reports? Okay. Um, delegate report. Hannah, do you have anything? >> Uh, no. You already told about the April 15th meeting. Um, and I there's the new legislative um the list came out and you guys uh be um interested in some of this uh legislation that's uh coming up and um that legislation. >> Yeah. Okay. That that's about it. Thank you, Miss Hannah. Superintendent report. >> Yes. Good evening. I'm going to have Mr. Ella Jacis come up and I believe we're going to tag team on go for superintendent. Go for the goal around safety,

060climate, and belonging. So, I guess we'll tag team. I'll jump. >> We are. We're going to work together. Good evening everyone who's still here. I'm Nick Alazakis. I'm going to be working with the superintendent. talk a little bit through the progress where we're at for goal four. And this presentation is also linked in board docs. If you want to u follow along or if you're so excited by what you hear that you want to go back and review it on your own, you can. So, superintendent's goal for it's on your screen. By March of 2026, the district will engage students, staff, families, and community members in a coordinated effort to strengthen perceptions of safety, climate, and belonging. This will include annual safety and climate surveys. A superintendent a listing tour across all schools and buildings

061and expanded opportunities for two-way dialogue. Feedback will be analyzed to identify themes, guide responsive actions, and inform regular reports to the board of education and community. What I just did is the last time you'll see me read an entire page. I trust that you all are capable of following along. I respect everyone's time. And so, we're going to be summarizing the rest of this presentation, what's on here, because it's a little lengthy. I've been told I talk a lot. So I'm going to do my best to summarize it. What we want to uh kind of start off with some highle actions for go force. So when the board set this goal back in the fall, we sat down um the superintendent and myself and the safety department and some others to figure out what are

062some highlevel actions. How do we tackle this? Because it's not really a goal that she's had officially in the past. So what would we want to do? and we talked about, you know, we pulled out parts from the goal and part of the discussions that the board had in building this. So, we want to do some survey and data collection, superintendent's listening tour, both of which we're going to touch on today. And then there was also some engagement, some analysis, and some reporting. So, that's sort of the process that we're going to be following. >> And we also looked at our five essential survey to see where some of um our gaps were um so that we could bridge those two. >> That's very true. And if you guys will remember the presentation that was

063given in the spring by Miss Malooki on the five essential survey, as we go through these surveys, you're going to start seeing some similar trends kind of coming back up and that is what led to some of the the creation of the goal and what we're trying to address. So, first things, there were surveys back in the fall um that was submitted that was given to parents, staff, and students in grades 6 through 12 where we talked about some of these topics, the belonging, your safety, um you know, the climate in your schools. There was a number of multiple choice questions as long as well as some open-ended questions to allow people to give us their feedback. We're going to start really quickly with survey summary and the survey summary is going to be the

064multiplechoice questions. So um from staff you'll see here there's two pages on kind of what we learned from staff because we had a higher uh number of staff members. Uh >> no I'm sorry on this there's one page later there'll be two pages in here. Sure. Is that okay? >> Absolutely. >> So generally what we um seen is that our staff feel safe um in their school buildings. Um and another thing that we seen was around discipline. And I'm not reading from here because I've been presenting at schools and having meetings with students. But the concern was inconsistency in discipline. And it can be inconsistency and referrals of discipline from student to administrator, but also inconsistencies in discipline from classroom to classroom. So how one teacher deals with a a situation versus another. So we're

065looking at those inconsistencies. um staff perception um school leadership and managing student behavior is mixed in what I told you those inconsistencies and school climate and comm community and communication are positive. Our staff felt that working together um they felt there was collaboration. They felt support. They were fairly positive in regards to working with their peers. >> Did you want to add anything there? No, I think you you touched on it. Uh, next we have kind of what we learned from the survey from a student perspective and you could see there these were sort of the main takeaways. Uh, one thing I want to pull out, the majority of students reported feeling safe always or often, though noticeable groups indicate that they only feel safe sometimes in certain areas of the school, hallways, restrooms, common

066areas. You guys will remember that was a big theme that kind of came out of Five Essentials as well. And that's something that um you know as we're going through this that we're working with the safety department as we start getting more and more data on this what can we do how can that be addressed >> the last one is families again these are the multiple choice um >> I think an important one can we go back >> sure >> I think an important one here um and just because listening to the students um they said they said when safety concerns are reported they believe that adults listen um and respond, but they sometimes feel that the response is inconsistent or delayed, if that makes sense. And in speaking with the students, um it was

067like, are you really hearing what I'm saying and following up on it? And so, majority of them would say yes, but they don't know what that followup looks like because no one communicates back with the students. Miss Brisco's shaking her head. Go ahead, Nick. >> Sure. Uh, next up is families. Uh, one that I I wanted to highlight and I'm sure superintendent may have one, is the we had some reoccurring concerns related to the bullying and inconsistent discipline. Again, this something that families reported they're hearing either from their children or that they are experiencing. Um, so Super I don't know if there's any other ones that you wanted to highlight on that before we get to the other themes. >> No, I think No, you're good. >> All right. And then we have our key

068themes. So, as I stated earlier, the key themes kind of come out of the open-ended questions. So, we the open-ended questions allowed you to kind of let us know what else we can do to uh improve, what kind of uh what else would you like to state? And so, people is really able to give us their thoughts. But as you go through those thoughts, you start seeing the themes. Now, from staff, as I said, it's a few more themes. We're going to have uh 10 key ones that sort of came a few times. So the first five, number one was student discipline. I think uh superintendent touched on that. Then there's some other things related to safety and consistency, communications issues. Um building physical improvements which our student board members mentioned today. And then moving

069on, superintendent, I don't know if you have to add anything about these next. >> I do want to add in here. So communication. If if I was asked what what am I trying to solve or what keeps me up at night, I would say communication. I mean, there's a lot of things, but it's how is communication funneling down and is it consistent and is it supportive, right? And sometimes the message can start off very strong, but by the time it it gets to the classroom, it's it it morphs into something different or not as strong messaging as previous. So, it keeps me up at night. Here's my dilemma. My dilemma is though, when I speak to my staff and some that are watching this um board meeting, I hear, "Miss Pencensei, if I get another

070email from you, I'm going to scream." And I and I say, do I am I sending out that many emails? But I'm trying to keep you informed. So, I think our goal as a board of education and the administration is how are we communicating with staff? There's got to be different um methods in communicating with them to ensure that they are getting the message in a timely matter manner, but that that message is staying consistent throughout the process. If that makes sense. Another thing that we've seen here is that which I I'm not surprised, but our staff said, "Hey, listen. We like professional development." And I think that's on the next slide. I may be ahead of myself because I've been looking, but we like professional development and we even want more professional development, which

071I thought was a good thing. Another um thing that I seen here, can you go to the next slide? I talked about that the consequences change from whether school to school, administrator to classroom or classroom to classroom. Another thing that came out here is that our staff feels supported from by one another and I did call that out. One thing that I want to make the board aware another concern of our staff is is that when policies are changed or when our procedures change, how is that information getting to them? So now currently I'm brainstorming maybe there's a recap after the board meeting that the board took action. I mean there I I want to expand that. I know I see your face but I want to expand that more because we're hearing that that's

072not enough right? So what is it? And I do know that people we can go back and look at the YouTube. I understand all that but a way on where we're really calling out policy to say hey listen hypothetically timeout. what is the policy around timeout? How are we supporting you knowing that policy, implementing that policy, but also educating that policy as it changes? Because when I was at Greenwood today, they said, "Okay, well, there could be a policy and we've been doing things this certain way for a long time." And the shift in practice at time takes time to bridge and to get there. And so how are we getting supported in bridging that shift in practice from what was to what is now? And so that is a question that I'm grappling with

073right now. We're going to move on then to some of the key themes from our students and those again issues that you're kind of seeing from staff as well um with the consistency in how issues are addressed. you'll see number one students do report they had some reports of there's uh bullying, there's harassment, there's peer conflict and they don't feel it's consistently addressed. And so that was kind of the number one thing that we saw that when when you hear that it's obviously going to be a concern. And so how do we work to ensure that those um issues are not occurring or that students, you know, don't experience that in a school where we want them to be safe and comfortable and feel like they belong. Um then some other things uh back to

074the facilities that again was raised today by our student board members that we kind of hear from time to time as well as some other key themes. Anything you want to add? >> Yeah, and I think it's also important to know that students want better communication also and they want more consistent communication um and respectful interaction with adults. That was um a point that we seen in that survey. and families. Um the last key themes more to the communication and transparency that they're asking for. Um they say some of the buildings feel unwelcoming or the access uh is difficult and that's not you know getting to the building but you know getting into the building how you get in the steps you have to take you know how welcoming and friendly all of that is.

075Uh, another one that I know safety has been working on for a number of years and a lot of us have is like the number four. We've been working with our partners in the city. How do we make that traffic around the building in the morning, in the afternoon better for our students who are there, for our parents who may be picking up, and for the community that live around there. So that's a constant thing particularly in some of our neighbor in our schools that are in neighborhoods that were maybe built 80 plus years ago that we didn't have as many vehicles or there weren't as many people as there are now making it a little more difficult to um get around those areas. >> I think you did state that but we have been

076working with the city um on that process and I just want to acknowledge that we have alderwoman um Lynn Florian and with us this evening. Thank you for being here. >> So, we're going to transition now to our listening tour. Um, our listening tour, anyone who's been around know the superintendent every year or so does a listening tour. She kicked off her time here in Walkegan with what was actually more than a hundred stops over the course of about two months. The listening tour at that time, um, she met with students and and staff and families. And this is the first time where we're going kind of back to that meeting with as many people as possible. And so she's this listening tours have already begun with our staff and they started today with our

077students. So she'll be meeting with staff at every building, both the school buildings as well as here at 214 Washington and at uh the non-school buildings like Lincoln Center, which she actually met with yesterday to kind of talk through the themes that we saw in this survey, but also make it open-ended for them as well. Maybe there's a topic that wasn't um that didn't come out in the survey, but they want to discuss it. Um so the structure is going to allow for that. There's also tours planned with students. Uh about a half a dozen or so students at each building. Um not just our you can keep where it was uh Stephen at the listening tour participation. >> We're good. And then uh beginning in February, we're going to start doing our parent listening

078tours, which there'll be some virtual and some inerson. We're also going to be um those are going to be like the mid to late February. We're also going to be structuring those by uh bands like for grades because we know that elementary students and elementary parents might have similar things they want to discuss. So we'll try to meet with them at a similar time and meet middle school students parents at similar time and uh high school at a similar time. That's also so if you know if you're a parent, you have a middle school student, you also have an elementary student, you can attend both. And so we want to be able to kind of give different opportunities for people to meet with um with with the superintendent in different languages that that she'll be

079conducting both virtual in person. We're trying to offer as many of those opportunities as possible and those are going to be getting announced next week so that people have a few weeks to prepare for that. >> So >> can I jump in here >> please? Um, so normally when you start this little listening tour, it um it's a little bumpy in the beginning till you get your cadence going and you start rolling, right? So now we're up and rolling and I had a great listening to my first student listening to her at stu at um Jack Benny. It was phenomenal with the kids, how they expressed themselves, the concerns. I mean, they were just so spoton on how they articulated what they need, um, how they want to be seen and actually their expectations. So,

080it was really, really enlightening. I am going to be sending an invite to the board of education that if you would like to come with me on a listening tour, um, a staff one and a student one um, we could do one by one because of OMA rules. there's so many of them to jump in and you will be getting that email tomorrow so you can sign up. Um so I hope that you guys will join me um so you can see the process of exactly what is transpiring during these um during these um gatherings. >> Miss you want to wait till after the slides. >> It's okay. Go ahead. >> Go ahead. No, I just want I see here that you're only going to talking with five to eight. >> Those are the groups.

081Go ahead. >> They're groups that are coming in. So to manage 20 is too much and so to make it authentic where I'm able to interact with them. The principles um we've given out detail like hey you know we we we're not looking for a specific student. We want a wide range of students, right? And so principles have in a sense um a student picture of you know who we're looking for to join. Yeah. And so yes it's about 5 to eight. Today I believe there was about eight students maybe 10 >> a fair of students. >> Well we did give a survey and we're going to give more surveys and we're going to put suggestion box. I we can brainstorm through this and I'm open for ideas. I just 20 or 30 students, it

082loses the intimacy and in many cases, Miss Hannah, you I I'll deal with um Jack Benny today. I have to work on building trust with the students. So, it really takes the first 10 15 minutes is just really getting them um comfortable to being with me and speaking with me. and they're more open when there's not as many because like I had a young student today who um came from India and she says when I'm here I feel like I'm invisible and times I want to be invisible >> and I don't think she would have said that in um in a group of 20 and 30 but the group of eight and the support of that once we got rolling and just how they opened up I mean I will tell you it was powerful

083Um and for a student to say I feel like I'm invisible or at times I want to be invisible because people not some people or some student shouldn't say some students don't understand my culture >> and that taught me that we need to do more cultural awareness here in our district um because we do have a large um Indian you know Indian population coming right and she even broke it down she said in India they assume that I'm from here, but I'm from a completely different place in India and it doesn't work that way. And so, you know, I broke it down like we're in Midwestern, East Coast does things different. The South may do things different. And so, we have to recognize that geographically that those cultures shift, right? And so, how do we

084open up that space? Another thing she said today was, you know, we recognize um Hispanic Heritage Month. We recognize Black History Month, but what about Pacific Asian? Like, she said, "We had one celebration." She said, "We should be doing that every year." And she's absolutely right. You know, like she said, "We only did that one year. You and I were at that event. >> We did it." >> Not I'm not on a mic. They've done it multiple years, which is a concern to me. So I think the thing is it comes down to it comes down to communication again. Yeah. >> But >> from her perspective it's only happened once and that is the concern. Yeah. >> Factual, unfactual, that's her perception. >> I I think she was talking about the um >> I mean

085it I think she's talking about how big the venue was, right? like you know that we had singers and performers and it was more intentional this last time at um Jack Benny when there was a you're absolutely right cuz there was two years um and I remember Mr. Riddle being there Mrs. But she's saying that she would like to see it like what happens during that month? What are we doing? Like she see more of that, right? >> And in building probably too, >> right? Yeah. >> Um so I thought that was a good point and she felt safe to say that I you know but we can think about how do we um get more students involved um surveys maybe online um gatherings. I I'll brainstorm through that. Miss Hannah, >> can >> Sorry.

086I was just going to ask if is is it fair to say that when we asked the principles to pick or when you asked the principles, I should say, to pick the students, you asked for a a population of students that reflects the diversity of their school, right? Or >> so that the students, the five to eight students is coming from different programs, different grade levels, different ethnic backgrounds. >> Sorry, I'm going to jump on that. We also want to make sure that like the students constantly in the principal's office need to also be included in the conversation. So like what we are anticipating is and I'm not saying that that's not happening is just when we get the information after all of this we get the demographics so we can see the spread >>

087not the honoral student that's every different programs >> and we were clear about that right like we want to get every student's perspective you may have an honoral student you know I >> different different makeups that's how I'm going to leave it >> we have a couple more slides right >> yep y >> go ahead Nick >> so the next slide to talk a little bit about just the structure in the staff listening tours. Uh they began last month. Superintendent attends a few a week after school after work hours so that staff can attend. One thing we're doing is um we're using Sibi. That's our our AI tool to record a portion of the meeting with the consent of the staff to be able to then kind of identify some of the key themes that

088come out of that. Now, it's completely optional for staff to attend and so you get different levels of participation at different buildings depending on whether staff would like to stick around or not to kind of have those honest dialogues um wi with the superintendent. And then >> can I jump in there? I do want to state that we do ask the staff if they're okay with us recording that and using Sydney or an AI um tool, right? And so if the staff is not okay with that, then I will just manually take notes. Um, thus far it has been very positive where the staff has said, "Yeah, we can use the tool." >> And so going on to the student tours, don't have much on it because student tours started this week. This presentation was

089done before this week, but they began today. One thing that um a positive thing that's kind of already come out of it, I know the superintendent was really impressed with some of the feedback and the structure that some of the students at Benny wanted to go. I'm heading over to Benny tomorrow to work with that group of students. We're sort of building out what they think is like an ideal structure for these moving forward. And so we're working on like a high school, a middle school, and elementary school because we know the way you talk to third graders is not the same way you're going to talk to 11th graders. And so they're helping me out with that tomorrow to make sure that there's some additional student um input and voice in that. And that'll

090be something that will be brought to the other tours with the students to uh kind of work into implementing those. And that goes to where we where we're starting and we find out well this is not working. I had a meeting at Jack Benny today and I was supposed to be at Abbott today. Um my meeting at Jack Benny went way over and I did not want to cut students short. Um but through that process I said I we need to reschedu Abbott because the kids need to craft and be part of the process of crafting the questions that they understand right or that they're looking for. And so I did ask Nick to go back out to Jack Benny to work with a group of students that were my first listening um learning tour

091of students. Um and so that's what we'll be doing tomorrow. >> So next steps we are going to be um complete the remaining listening tours. We're going to continue to analyze the survey results and the listening tour feedback schedule. We still need to um get those parent listing tours scheduled so that parents are all aware of how those are going to look both uh virtual and in person. our we're working with our data department on a dashboard. A lot of the goals have dashboards and so what information there is going to be relevant and then um kind of coming out of that there's going to be development of some short and long-term goals. One thing I failed to mention I want to go back we don't need to go back but in the agenda if

092you go to the slide that talked about the surveys there's a little hyperlink that says results. You can click on that results tab and you could see much more detailed um Google doc about five or six pages for students, five or six for staff, five or six for um parents that breaks down all the survey results there. You could view them at your pleasure. We did not want to spend any additional time on that today. And that concludes what I had. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes, I'm really pleased to see what we're doing on this goal. Um and and I want to compliment you and continue that that I think our district needs to continue to focus um on our students, our staff and our community. Um when I was at triple I had the

093opportunity to attend one of the spotlight sessions that was um called the belong the power of belonging. It was presented by Dr. Doug Bolton um who is a psychologist who has worked for the past 30 years in with schools um on the Northshore here all along all around Chicagoland and all around the nation actually but um he has a new book called untethered creating connected families schools and community and I purchased his book at the seminar um and have been reading it through Christmas and I and I believe it really hits on a a problem that is not just in our school district but is in American school districts. He compares what is going on in American schools with what's going on in some of the European schools. Um, and he finds the problem is

094a sense of belonging. And he has worked with Highland Park School District and Shamberg's uh consolidated school district 54 in our community here. Um and he showed some of the results especially in Shamberg um working with that school district few years how their uh the commun the climate improved so so much but the unexpected or not he expected to occur was that uh discipline problems went way down and academ academic performance went way up. So I would highly recommend that maybe the we take a look uh have a little talk with Dr. Bolton. Um he is I talked to him uh you know after the conference he is available he is a consultant um he's got a nice website actually in um December I December 17th I sent you a memo about him >> um

095and so and talked about the possibility of even using him in other ways but um there are people in our community that uh and he is one of them that is has studied this problem. He is passionate about uh our children and how they are so untethered there especially with social media and so what's going on in our society. Um and he has some solutions for that. uh you know and and just like the anxious generation uh book you know he he talks about possibilities what can we can do as parents as teachers and community and staff and he shows how we as schools have a big opportunity to have impact on these children um much more than almost any institution because kids spend more time in school than they talking um than they do

096at home with their parents. So we have an obligation to to really work with this problem and it and it all boils down you know with his experience to creating this sense of belonging. Um so anyway that's that's my two cents worth here. I hope we can discuss that further. >> Thank you. Who is next? >> Um thank you for the presentation. I think some of the observations are going to translate to frustrations because when we look at those survey results, you have less than 20% of your staff participating. You have maybe 2% of students and then those 2% >> families. So, it it's frustrating for me because as a board, how can we get a real picture for only those actively participating generally? When it comes to surveys, my understanding, and I could be

097wrong, is that you participate in a survey when you're really excited about something or really upset about something. And so, we could potentially be missing those middle-of the road people to to really hone in on our issues. Um, when we talk to students about the sense of belonging, the question is, do you feel like you belong? What does that mean to them? >> Yeah. >> Right. Like I from the conversation that you had with this young lady over at Jack Benny, I I would say she doesn't feel like she belongs. So, but for other kids, they do feel like that. So, what is it? Is it the food in the cafeteria doesn't make you belong? Does it your classmates? Is it the traditions or lack of traditions that bring us together as a community? What

098does that mean? So, I really want to understand what is each group's understanding of what belonging is and how it meets, exceeds or or fails to meet those expectations. >> Because >> you can jump in and then I'll continue. That's fine. I'm just going to say because it has just like a catchphrase bad catch >> catchphrase buzz buzz word um get you know uh the sense of belonging you know I mean what does that actually mean for um for the student >> there has to be a common definition >> he's shaking his head what does that mean and are we throwing something at them and they they don't they're going to answer just kind of off the cuff because they don't know what you're asking, >> right? And so I apologize, superintendent. For me, it

099comes down to asking targeted questions that get to at least what our understanding of belonging means and if it if they feel that or not. Right? So an open-ended of course like what does it mean to them? We have the common definition. We're asking targeted questions to see if we're meeting that definition. That's that's on that. Um I love that the students are being very honest is what I'm hearing in terms of they don't feel respected. I am very big on that in this district. If our teachers and staff do not respect our students, they know it, they feel it, and in my opinion, they don't belong in this district because you are doing more harm not respecting them and then teaching them the P pagorean theorem than not really getting them to understand a

100square plus b²= c², but them feeling like they're a valued member of the community. So, I love that our students are saying that and I I just want to make sure that's honed in on how we can get that improved within this district and have accountability around that. The question that I have, superintendent, can you help me understand or elaborate more on when the communication is strong at the top, when it gets lower down and the communication change, what do you mean it's not as strong? >> Yeah. So, I'm going to take an example. So it's not always coming from the soup's office, right? So we can talk about ASAP, right? We just adopted um a new curriculum and our teachers are very excited about the curriculum, right? But the messaging on the pacing, right?

101So we know that there's a pacing guide. That's actually one of my goals also. But now how that message gets trickled down is like okay well now it could be a pr I don't want yeah let me just say it like this a principal can say well you know the district is making us do that versus saying why the importance of doing this to cover more skills right so now that morph that that communication of where um we've heard um Miss Rice Dela Sanchez and Pam say listen we need to cover all the skills skills of the year. So, we need to make sure that we're pacing to cover all the skills because what we found is we're not even covering half of the skills that should be covered that year in some cases, not

102all cases. So, I want to make sure for the public this is not just a blanket statement. I'm just giving a a possible scenario. And so, if we're only giving half of them, we're not getting them equipped for what they need to make a full year of growth if they're not touching those skills. So when I've been speaking with staff, I'm saying and we're talking about the pacing. Well, I won't even get into that. So that's how that messaging is not being consistent or in a sense supported through the ranks of the district. It starts to morph into something else or it's filtrated a number of times, right? And so that's why we have discrepancy in what at one school versus another or we could even have excitement at one school versus another. It could

103be through the bilingual department. I'm not saying this is true. It's just example, right? Like what what I could really be buying into the program in hypothetically full immersion. Let's just say we're doing that. That's not what we're doing. Of course, we know that, but let me just say full immersion. Another person doesn't believe in full immersion. So now it's like, okay, well, we shouldn't be doing that. So, it's the messaging of the strategy of what we're doing, how it gets down there, and then it it it builds frustration. It builds burnout, it builds low morale when that messaging is not consistent and we're not supporting the same endeavor as a group in its entirety. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. So, it sounds like you're wanting to make sure one, they understand the how

104and the why. Because from my perspective, if I was an employee and you're just adding on to my plate, it feels like a to-do list. But if the intentional message is here's what we're doing, this is why we're doing it, and this is the expected outcome, the buying is going to increase. Right? So that game of telephone can drastically impact whether you have teachers and staff buying into the process versus resisting and fighting it along the way. >> Right? >> Okay. Oh, >> Miss Faviano was next. >> Sorry. Are you done with yours? Sorry. >> For now. >> So, that's what I was going to say. Basically, it's a game of telephone. It's how people heard and interpreted the message. >> Um, and I will say as as former staff and even down when I

105was parapro, right? It when it really trickles down, it's how someone interpreted it then taught you it. >> And and so it's >> that's going to happen in any organization. and and how do you improve that? But it also happens, I will say, with our families, right? We put out messaging all the time and our families don't interpret it correctly and then that misinformation spreads. So, there's got to be um a way that we figure out how is it that we write our messaging in different ways so that they're not misinterpreted, right? because the style of writing, you know, press writing versus writing to a family is totally different. And and I've done a lot of professional development on on that. Like sometimes we use those $5 words when we only need a nickel, right?

106So, how that's the other piece of it when it comes to communication just in general. Um, as far as the student portion of the communication, and I've suggested this before from hearing from students, we keep emailing them, and a lot of them don't even open up their emails, their district emails, um, because it's just overwhelming because they get an email every time something's put into their Google classroom or anytime somebody makes a comment on something. And so what they do is they go to the Google classroom. And so I don't know if we can create a file folder that says like flyers or upcoming events or you know things you got to know to push those flyers things for them. So, when we're doing these um student >> forums or listening tours, if we could

107ask the students what would they prefer? And I will even say like we need to learn how to communicate the way they do. Like they're on TikTok, they're on social media, they're you know, and yeah, it's easy to say get off of that or don't do it, but the reality Yeah. But the but the reality is our students communicate differently than we do and they >> receive messaging differently than we do. Right. There's a lot more visuals and a lot more music just inaccessible. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Um, so again, so part of that listening tour when we're talking with our students, if if that could be one key point, like one key question is how do you prefer your communication from your school district and your school? Cuz those are two different things.

108>> Yeah. >> And and that I think that's part of the issue too, right? Like your school might be doing a phenomenal job messaging out what's happening, but they're not getting the district stuff like the surveys that they have to take that come down from the district. So, how is it how are they best receiving it or how would it be more helpful? I think that's something that should go along and I don't know if they can go on the tour with you at least to a couple of different schools if they can take turns to also help facilitate and learn and maybe they can get more ideas of how that would look like. >> Okay, we have several hands up. Miss Hannah I think was next >> and then treasure header >> and treasure.

109>> Yes. >> Okay. Um well I want to go back to um the uh communication to staff about our policy. >> Mhm. >> Okay. When we change policy, we should be sending out the policy the um the the if they're new policies, if they're amended policies, if they're uh re um reworked, revamped, whatever, those policies should sent out to all of our schools. in a reasonable amount of time after we um after we approve them. I mean that that that should be done. >> I could speak to that. We we work with our legal team when policies are approved and and there's revisions, modifications to policies to put that information in the bulletin. So it'll be like a little short write up policy XYZ. Um, and we'll grab language that's essentially in there to say

110here's what's changed and they'll have a link to >> they may not know what the policy was in the first place. They're trying to um link it. And it also >> they should have and I'm sure that they should have a policy book I would hope >> in each of their schools >> and each of their schools >> and um and the uh when there's change those policies should be sent over to the schools. And then that comes in superintendent you um you would um uh mention to your principles or your okay and tell them new policy was set out. it needs to be uh discussed, talked about with the principles so the principles can tell teachers and staff and and that's what should be happening. I was hoping that that's been happening anyway. >>

111So I would like to just jump in on two things. All board policies are available to all staff as well as everybody in the community 24/7 on the board's website under board of education and board policies. They're organized. There's a table of contents. You can do a word search. Everybody has access to policies at all time. They have to choose to look for them and read them. When we have updates, they may have been involved in developing the updates such as PTAC recommendations if they chose to participate, but when they're done and through the board where they can also pick up on them when they are noted for first and second reading, we do work with Mr. for all Jackis to communicate that the update is final and then it is reposted the updated version

112in the board um public board policy website page. So nobody doesn't have access to policies that are current at all time. I do think that there may be a nuance when they say policies. They don't always mean the official board policy. It could be practices for how they're being implemented as well. So I think we just >> policy can sometimes be across the board for a range of things as well. One last thing, >> Mr. Motton holds regular liaison meetings with all of the board union presidents and they can bring concerns about what's policy and practice there at any time if their membership has questions. So I think again it goes back to interpretation because you're right policies are sent out but how I read it and understand it may be different than how someone

113else reads and understands it and so simply sending out the update is not enough and it goes back to what Miss Placencia was saying is the then what so this policy change which means our practice has to change because policy moves practice right so how how that information is getting out is probably where the disconnect is because what does that policy change mean for the staff? That's where I think the disconnect is happening. >> I agree and that's but I think treasure was not >> jumped on. >> Oh, I'm sorry, >> Miss Miss Ellen. >> Oh, >> no. I >> We'll loop it back. >> I'll I'll come back. I just want to go back to what Miss Fabian said about trying to get the communication back to the students. I would say teachers is

114like a good like idea because my teacher, one of my teachers, she like post like reminders about scholarships, events and like other other things and like it goes back to the student directly and so I think that would be a good good idea to get to the teachers first so they can get back to the students directly. I I thank you treasure for that. I also think is we we may be doing something but we can do it we can build upon it right like we can scaffold it up to improve practice and so we may be putting that in the bulletin I do think it needs something else and so we got to figure out from this I mean this is just initially I think I've been to what four or five schools or

115and we just started um so as we see that though it's just to improve it and solidify it and go deeper so that our staff feels supported and we're getting them what they need to be successful in the classroom. Um, and I miss Lindsay. I don't >> So, who is Miss There's somebody. Okay. >> Yeah, I was I was trying >> I'll let Miss Hannah finish her second round and then as always I have a followup. No, I just want to say we were uh I thought I about uh the uh staff going with the staff again. Um, see we're a unit school district. >> Mhm. And I think um that um that building autonomy, okay, has caused a problem because it I guess I would maybe I should ask question. Are the buildings working

116together? Are they communicating together? or is are they all on different things? I mean, because there should be and I was going to ask you the the the elementary is one group, middle school, one group, high school, right? and uh middle school and you you all have heard me say it before that um uh all the elementary should be doing basically the same thing so that if they're if student goes from um uh goes from mall to Oakdale I'm just using it for example they should not be behind fine because McGall is doing something different than Oakdale. Oakdale's doing something different than uh Washington Elementary. And so I I I've always had a concern about that. And so is that what the teachers are talking about? >> No, ma'am. So especially with the new curriculum

117we bought, we're we're we're really on pace. Like >> everybody is Yeah. They're in the same I can't say they're on the same page. You know what I mean? But they're they're pretty close. They're all at the 20 yard line. You know what I'm saying? In that process, right? A teacher may be a day behind. May I mean I I may have been sick yesterday, so I'm behind because I Right. So different variables play at that. But if you went from school to school, yes, that should be happening. >> Okay. Okay. And that's the same thing. >> And I wanted Yeah, I'm going to I was Yes, ma'am. They they have a different curriculum, right? They're they're implementing. We're working on middle school. We know that we launched this literacy, but yes. Yes. And there

118is some variance though. However, now however, I'm not dismissing that. I want to go back because I heard Miss Fabian and it's it's pulling at me over here. Where principles collaborate is they have a monthly principal meeting. And so they're they're all together from every school in the district. So all of our schools are represented. They're talking about problems of practice. They're working together. They're collaborating so that it's not just isolated or bucket where the elementary schools are here and the middle schools are here because there needs to be articulation from elementary to middle, middle to high school. So that articulation needs to take place. >> Okay. I just want to remind everybody we still have to go back into close session. Okay. >> It's getting late. >> Miss Lindsay. >> Yeah. So, a couple

119of things that I left out. Um, I wonder how much we can preload the questions to the students and the families and if the staff as if possible because if they have time to say these are the questions I'm going to be asked, they can be thoughtful and take time and really look at the broader scope and not feel on the spot I need to give a fast answer. So, if there's opportunities to give them the questions ahead of time, I think that could be beneficial. I um want to recap the intent of this. This is the superintendent's goal at the board's direction. The board wants to know what the real culture and climate in this district is. We hear from this pocket of people over here. We hear this perspective over there. We are

120trying to understand within the district. So if you are not respectfully honest, it is hard for this board to make any sort of change or ensure that change happens. So I am really um pleading with anyone remaining if the survey needs to go back out again because only 20% of staff is your respectful honesty is what we want. This is not an exercise just to check a box. The board specifically wants this information and because we want it so badly, we have made it one of the superintendent's goals. So, I hope more people participate because that's the intent of it so we can get things done and help ensure that supports are in place for the superintendent and her administration to make that change happen. Because if we're seeing all of these concerns within and

121we're seeing these key themes, we want them fixed. Our buildings deserve to be safe, welcoming places for everyone. So, if you're not telling us what the issues are, we can't fix it. Um and then back to my last comment um for tonight with the principles and um making sure there's collaboration across the district uh with the prior board during one of our conferences that we went to. There was the conversation around there's professional learning communities and professional learning organizations. And there was a book that I had purchased. they only had a couple of copies um and spread across. But at the end of this, that may be another conversation that this current board needs to have so we can tighten that up and buckle it down so that everyone has that sense of belonging in

122our district. I'm done. >> Thank you. And thanks for putting things in perspective. Anybody else? >> I I'm just going to finish with this. Thank you, Miss Lundy. And that's why we paused today and that's why I didn't move forward because and those questions at Jack Benny were preloaded but they were still not the right questions and I'm going to acknowledge that. So I did go off script um which took a a longer amount of time with those students and the teacher had to come out to build that environment of you know you have a voice and let's discuss this and you can lead this. However, that is why we paused it today because those questions were not right. Okay? And I want to acknowledge that. So, we're going to bring the kids together. We're

123going to draft some questions and we're going to go back out and if it's not right again, then we're going to come back and reddraft them because we want them to be right. super and um I had sent um some research questions for a for surveys staff uh staff satisfaction survey, student satisfaction survey and uh parent satisfaction survey. I sent three sets of researched questions to you and um the previous board president and apparently you guys didn't use them. Those questions were devised and designed to get to answers that's needed. And so I'm asking, do do you recall those those uh questions? >> I absolutely recall you sending them to us, Miss Hannah. Yes. >> And maybe you could look at them. >> I will look at them because they were they were short, concise.

124Yep. I'll pull them up tomorrow and I'll give you a call. >> Can you send them to me, too? >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Because th those were they they were done they were diligently done very mindfully done through research and it was all in an educational environment. >> Yep. I'll pull them tomorrow and I will send them to the board president. I'll reach out to you tomorrow. >> Thank Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. Well, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Aljacus. Thank you. >> Okay. Um information items item 18A foyer report for December 2025. >> The report of the foyer work that was done in the month of December is available for review. You will note that there is one entry with some redactions that is um confidential student information but otherwise the

125nature of the request is available in the responses. >> Thank you. Item 19, old business. Item 19 A, approval of resolution regarding bids received for the property located at 742 Greenwood Avenue, formerly Welcome Center. No, this >> I thought I was going to say that we still >> it is the recommendation that the board of education approve the resolution as read regarding the bids received on January 16, 2026 for the property property located at 742 Greenwood Avenue formally welcome center. Okay. Whereas the board of education, uh, now known as the board of walkgan community unit, school district 60, Lake County, Illinois, um, further known as school district, authorized the sale by sealed bids with no minimum purchase price of certain real estate consisting of an 11,986 square foot office building situated on a 26,295 square

126foot parcel of land with the address of 742 West Greenwood Avenue, Walking, Illinois, and identified with the Lake County Permanent Index numbers 08- 09-321- 027 and 08-9-325-025 uh here in known as real estate and whereas on January 16, 2026, two sealed bids were received for the property. The first from the Boys and Girls Club of Lake County in the amount of $350,000. the second from Ombberto Man on behalf of the owners of Tutes Bakery in the amount of $410,000 and whereas the board has determined that neither bid is acceptable. Now therefore, be it resolved by the board of education of Walke Community School District 60, Lake County, Illinois as follows. Section one, the board hereby rejects both bids. Section two, pursuant to the provisions of section 522 of the school code, the board hereby directs

127the administration to engage the services of a licensed real estate broker to sell the property for a commission not to exceed 7% contingent of the sale of the property within 120 days. Section three, the board the bo that that the board president and board secretary, superintendent, and attorneys for the school district are hereby authorized to sign such documents and to take such action as may be necessary. And section five, that this resolution shall be in full force and in effect from and after this adoption adopted this 27th day of January, 2026 by the affirmative vote on at least twothirds of the members of the board of education as follows. Um, >> do you make that a motion? >> Before I make that a motion, I think we need to update section five to section four

128because it goes section one, section two, section three, section five currently. Is there a section four I'm missing? I believe that's just a typographical error. >> And that's fine, but I just want to make sure >> we need to make sure so that we're clear on this. Mhm. Miss Fabian, are you making that as a motion? >> Yes. >> So moved by Miss Fabian. Do we have a second? >> Second by Miss Ramirez. Any discussion on this motion? Can we have a roll call vote, please? >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> yes. >> Miss Ramirez, >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. Item 20, new business. I see none. 21, student discipline matters. Nothing there. >> You know what? >> Yes, ma'am.

129>> It's old business. >> Oh, do we have any? >> Because I was going to do it under board me, but um can >> Yes, we can >> go back to >> number 19. Old business. >> Old business. >> Okay. I would um I would like to get some updates on some things. Um first off, uh it's been a long time since we have heard anything um regarding our special education department. >> Yep. And so, um, if we could get some an update on, um, you know, what's going on in special education in terms of, um, um, if we are, uh, Huh? Okay. But uh just an update on special education and what's going on if we had more people coming in uh more students going in any students being um you know coming out.

130Um how how are the um uh uh the outplacements going? What about Mena? All of those things. >> It's time. pardon me. >> Staffing >> um all all of those things to give us an update on what's going on and with special education and also um second thing is can uh we also get an update on what's going on with the black boy initiative and where we are with that and are there any improvements Uh what you know just what's going on >> how the RFP connections. >> Yeah. And um we heard earlier um uh a community member ask about BAM and wild and I too hopefully with the consensus of board um is looking to get an update on BAM and WOW as well. Um >> can I elaborate on that? >> Yeah. >>

131So with the BAM and WOW update, um thank you Miss Brisco for highlighting that. Um I in terms of that I I'd like some reporting regarding staffing uh consistency of meetings. I'll go slower. >> Student enrollment slashengagement. >> Can we send that as an email? >> Yeah, for sure. But I just want the public to be aware of what we're asking for. >> Yeah. And right and um Oh, >> can I mean while you're looking at your notes um so I just want to make sure I got everything but I'm saying staffing consistency of meetings and what was the third one you said? >> Uh enrollment. >> Enrollment. Okay. >> Yeah. And if uh if we are seeing um student improvement >> Yeah. That's it, right? >> Thank you, S. Any other new old business?

132Old business? >> Any new business? >> Okay, then let's move on to board member time. Miss Allen, we'll start with you. >> Uh, I just wanted to say thank you all for all the encouragement and also the opportunity to have this leadership role. like it it really has helped me grow and develop skills that I hope to use, you know, throughout my whole life into my college career. And also, I want to say happy New Year's to everyone. I know we're a little late in in the month, but happy New Year's everyone. And thank you and stay warm. >> Okay, Mr. Hakobo. Um I just want to say uh thank you too, you know, thank to the president of board and all the board members for having me here. Um I just want to say

133that to the students, you got to start off strong this year. Um and end it strong too. So I wish you luck with everything um like coming up. Um besides that, stay warm and happy new year. >> Thank you, Miss Ramirez. >> Hello everybody. Hey, um thank you um so much. I can't believe we are almost done with January. Um it is traveling absolutely fast. Um to all the students right now that are access testing, um good luck and put your best foot forward. access. Um but that um with that, thank you very much every >> Mr. Riddle. Um yes. Um thank you all for staying with us tonight in this discussion. Um, I I read something recently that that was um encouraging to me with all of the bad news that we see and

134things that are terribly happening in our community. Uh, so much so in our nation too that we almost don't recognize this anymore as our country. Um, and it and it gets depressing, but the the message that I heard was um, we can't solve everything, but we can look for the light. So there's some heavy news out there, things happening, but and each person can look uh through their day for something light or they can be the light to help others um and to change our our community in in tiny ways and those make can make a big difference in someone's life. So I guess that's the good news is that each one of us has the ability to positively influence another person, helping them in some way. Um and and if enough of us do

135that um we will change the world in a positive way. So it's it's a good message. So anyway, stay warm, enjoy. Um summer spring is on its way. It's only like 50 some days away. So um think think positive. Have a good night. >> Thank you, Mr. Riddle. Miss Hannah, >> I just want to say um thank you for um all of the um recognition that at night it it's uh it's pleasure to hear uh good stuff and um Mr. Temples, he really deserved it. And um and also that uh but uh no just everybody stay warm. It's cold outside. When we came here it was decent but I know the temperature is supposed to drop. By the time we get out of here it's going to be dropping. So just stay warm. Be careful.

136>> Thank you, Miss Anna. Miss Lensing. >> Um, yeah, we've had some brutally cold days. Uh, so hopefully just keep an eye on your neighbor. Um, I think Walk Keegan, the reason I love this community is because we find ways to support each other and we have great pride in this community. So, I just hope we continue to keep that up despite what's happening on a national level. Um, I also am curious as to if we can get an update on our Sedexo or the um, food services as well. I should have brought it up during old business, but I had it for my board member comments. Um, but if we can and I'll send an email for more specifics and I'll share with you some concerns. Um, but on a positive note, we have

137senior night for a girls basketball team. So, if you can community, come out to the dog pound, which is at Washington campus tomorrow at 700 p.m. to cheer on the Lady Bulldogs. They are an excellent team and they deserve a lot of support. And then we also have our boys playing Friday at the Dog Pound. So, two home games in one week. Come on out, show them the support that they need. Um, and hopefully we can get another really great season. >> Thank you, Miss Lensine. Miss Fabian. >> Um, good afternoon or good evening, I should say. There is an open school board meeting every second and fourth Tuesday of the month unless otherwise noted. Um, agendas go up on Fridays which will let you know if it's a micro macro. Um, however, the every

138second is a micro meeting with committee meetings and community participation is encouraged at community meetings as that's your opportunity to hear what's going to come up for vote and ask questions. um and get answers right then and there. Our fourth Tuesdays is our regular board meeting and the full calendar is posted on our website. Um and I agree with you, Miss Brisco, we do need to see um or we would love to see more families um attending and participating. There is translation available in Spanish for those who need them. Um Um, I also want to thank you send a big thank you to Walking Township for the Drum Major Award during the Martin Luther King Jr. brunch. Um it is a a huge honor to be recognized among such esteemed community members that I admire

139um so much and it means a lot given the theme of this year which was strength and solidarity because I really feel that this is what we need to embody um more than ever. Two weeks ago, I made a few remarks regarding the shooting by our federal government. And today, unfortunately, we are met with the same news that another citizen has been shot and what I will say murdered during a a peaceful protest. So, this is not about immigration enforcement or securing our border borders. It's not an issue on the number of deportations. And I want to be clear that I am not against enforcing our laws um and legal deportations. The issue here is about the illegal deportations, entering homes without warrants, pulling people over without cause, the abuse of power, the lack of

140due process which is granted to everyone regardless of citizenship status and the overall violence. And so watching all of this playing out, I am confused. I'm angry and I'm heartbroken. I feel helpless and anxious. This is why I wrote it out because I knew I would get emotional. Um, but I say this to you all to say if I as an adult am having all these strong feelings and emotions, so too must our kids, our staff, and our families. And so, as much as we want to try to shield our children from the news, they're not going to be able to avoid it. It's all over TV. It's all over social media. So, I want to remind everyone once again to be mindful of our students and our staff's emotional distress and our famil family's

141financial struggles. Please check on your neighbors, spread kindness, share resources, and reach out when you feel the need. You cannot pour from an empty cup. And to Mr. Riddle's point of looking for the light. Um, I I uh saw something that really hit home for me where it says look for the light. But when you can't find it, it's usually because you are the light. Everybody's coming to you with their burdens. So, it's very important again to to reach out when you need that support so you can support others. Um, on the same note of staying warm, uh, there are several warming centers throughout Walkegan. Thank you to our city also for sending our police officers out to also make sure that those facilities are also safe um, and that people are finding their way

142there. Um, but again, reach out, make sure that you're helping one another. And if you find yourself struggling uh with homelessness and are looking for warm shelter, also make sure to reach out to our McKenna Vento department so they can assist you with some services as well. Um and again, congratulations to uh Miss Meyers and and u Mr. Compost. Mr. Compost is a shining example of when we bring people in from other countries, the great work that they can do from one Central American to another. I love seeing uh how much he's grown and the work that he's doing. Um and again, just kindness, kindness, kindness more than ever. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Favian. >> Okay. Um Mr. Sen, thank you for being here with us. appreciate you you uh following us and

143you know giving us uh the the exposure that you do in the the good press. Alderman Florian, good to see you. Thank you for being here. This brings back memories of planning and zoning. Well, thank you. Thank you. Good to see you here. And Miss Brisco, thank you for being here. Thank you for your your words and and uh you know, it's it's good to hear what you have to say. And uh you know we we look forward to seeing you here on a regular basis. I know you don't you don't come uh very often. I know it's kind of hard in this really cold weather, but you probably follow us though, right? Good, good, good. But thank you. Uh really appreciate your comments and thank you to everybody who stuck around. And with that,

144I would like to ask for a motion >> to go back into close session. >> I know nobody wants to >> motion cleansing. Second. >> Second. >> It needs to be refined. I thought there was >> I have to give the the reasons why we're going back. >> Please >> hold that motion. >> We are looking for motion to return to close session for the purpose of discussing items that fall fall into the following categories that are exceptions to the Illinois Open Meetings Act. C1 specific personnel. C11 litigation. C-21 close session minutes. Motion by >> Miss Lindsay. Lindsay. Second by Miss Ramirez. Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> yes. >> Mr. Ramirez, >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. We

145are now in close session. >> Just want to let everybody know that we are going to adjourn right after the close session. We'll go back into open session for a few seconds and adjourn from the 920 already. >> I know, right?